Pro Demos

     

    Colwyn Way Sat 29 Sept

     Colwyn began by recounting his turning career saying how many things had changed from very limited equipment when he started  He 

     explained his use of the skew including his double bevel grind (see photo below) developed from a german style.

     His first piece was a lace bobbin in brown oak  shaping  then cutting the beads all with the skew with the finished piece shown right.

       

     

      Table leg - in tulip wood. Again using one of his skews (left) with a planing action

       followed by cutting beads & coves to create the leg.

      Candlestick - above left shows the walnut base after shaping & cutting a centre recess. Then after loading the 'stem' piece shaping it with his skew . Picture right shows the finished piece.

       Bowl in spalted beech-  above shaping the foot then cutting the outside. After reversing the piece, then hollowing  the inside and   sanding .

      After reversing he lined up the base centre to the tailstock and removed most of the foot and finished off with a sanding pad in the headstock. on the right the finished bowl inside & out.


    Gary Rance  Sat 9 June 2018


      Gary gave us an entertaining day with demos of no less than 9 pieces! (not all shown) Also during his demo he gave many useful tips , including the importance of stance as well as the applicability, technique and method of use of certain tools, This included tools that he had specially adapted. Whilst he was demonstrating he quickly gained a rapport with members showing a great sense of humour!


     His first demo was a special salt cellar shaped like a bell (as right) .

    When filled with salt and shaken from side to side no salt  will appear but if shaken up & down then it will. This involves a special inside funnel.

          Shaping the 'inside' funnel           now parted off                                                Hollowing out the bell


         Showing a handle with a marking                 turning the handle                                              With the funnel inserted in the bell

         board (template)                                                                                                                      here shaping the outside   

                              Pendant   

    To make this  (shown right) Gary has a special circular 'jig' which is in two halves.This  is shaped with an off-set centre. A piece of decorative wood is shaped to fit  and then drilled as well as contoured (left).The piece is then reversed in the 'jig' so that it is finished on both sides. He finished it with sander/sealer and lacquer. He pointed out that there are different techniques for end grain and cross grain pieces to avoid 'tearing'.  A useful piece for using up odd bits of  'good' wood.

       Humming top This consists of two parts , - handle and cylinder 

      Shaping the rod piece of the cylinder              After shaping the body and parting off a lid            The lid placed back and pencil marked

                                                                               now hollowing out


       the finished cylinder                  shaping the handle                                               the finished piece

            Apple    Initial shaping                                a  finished laburnam  piece with a twig for a stalk          and a clove top 



            Frame   using a spare 'middle'

         Contouring the edge                                       cutting the middle out                                 Shaping the front on an expanding

                                                                                                                                                    chuck


           the finished piece (below)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

                       Tip over top - Initial shaping whilst

                                                  (right) cutting the inside 

    with left the finished top .

    Gary emphasised that the base should not be pointed otherwise it will not 'tip over'. The decoration was made with felt tip pens. Happy to say that this one worked!





                       On the right a selection of Gary's work.


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        Mark Sanger   - November 16 2017



       Mark gave an entertaining and very informative demo whilst turning.

       Unfortunately I was unable to be there all day so there  are details of

        only 2 pieces.He began by emphasising safety in turning. He always

        wears a face mask.Then he stressed the importance of sharp tools.

        Most interestingly he then explained his method of angles of tool

        presentation to the work for various tools and their types of cut.


       

              Starting on a dish                         Hollowing out . note position  of hand and                Marking with a  special type of pyrography

                                                                      and the rest                                                              machine  with a loop shaped wire




                the dish with the circle marked      Now a line at the rim after a groove cut                         the finished piece with another formica

                                                                  Mark uses a formica edge piece to make the colour    marking. Bowl part has been spirit stained   

        A deep bowl in Holm (?) Oak  starting to hollow        Showing the hollowing action                                Long view     


         after reversing the piece, shaping the base                                                                                           the finished piece


    May 6th - Les Thorne

       

     Les gave a very interesting demo in a joivial manner with amusing quips as well as useful hints & tips along the way.


    He demonstrated 3 pieces :-  a carved and decorated box, an ash bowl decorated with torching and lime wax and a wet elm natural edge bowl..


    He aslo gave a quick but useful guide on that bete noire of turners , the skew chisel, even showing that you could use a screwdriver in certain places when sharpened

                With spigots at each end here         Hollowing out the top                        test fitting the base to top        Carving with a mini arbortech tool

                 shaping the piece



               Now fully carved                             Airbrushing colour on               removing a spigot                               the finished piece

               Torched liming waxed bowl. Shaping the         Texturing with abead-type tool           Torching then brushing off excess bits

               outside of the Ash bowl




             Torching the rim                                                  Applying liming wax into the grooves                    The finished   piece


        Wet  Elm natural edge bowl  Shaping the outside       After reversing piece removing the inside            going deeper




              Checking thickness with a light inside                     the finished piece from the top       and                         the side

    Stuart Mortimer - February 27 2016

    Stuart, the legendary turner of spiral work , gave an amazing demo of his techniques. He produced no less than 6 pieces (5 shown here), giving one a good grasp of this form of turning. At the same time interspersing hints and tips along the way with a good few for beginners  in a gentle and amusing manner.


    He explained about the different twists and added that while it was possible to do these with hand tools, he now preferred using various power tools.

    As with many experts, Stuart made the cutting look easy but great care must be taken particularly when the large arbortech disk is fitted to an angle grinder as it is quite easy for it to 'run away' . (my own experience  - rs)


                His first piece (shown below)  in russian pine was an open double twist.

      Having marked out the           Having drawn the cut control lines          'drilling' the centre  out from                deepening the cuts with

      horizontal start lines                starting the cut                                        the end                                                 an arbortech disc whilst

      now marking the pitch lines                                                                                                                                  rotating the piece by hand



      Deepening the cuts to         Sanding the profile with  a               Sanding the 'inside' faces with            the 'finished' piece sufficient to the

      break through to the             home-made sanding stick              a  sanding  strip threaded through      to show the techniques

      centre with a powered

       burr tool

                                                            Second piece was a twisted hollow form in Beech

    Truing up the blank                        after shaping he marked up               marking the cut lines                                     Hollowing out

                                                           the pitch lines


    Using a light to check for                Cutting through with a Proxxon                                the end product finished just enough to show the

    even  thickness                              power tool                                                                technique invovled


    Spiral Finial

    Initial shaping  then after marking out here cutting with the small      smooting the cut with a burr power      finished to show the effect

                                                                 arbortech tool                                                                    tool


    Goblet

     After initial shaping here starting                         more hollowing out                                    with the tailstock now supporting the cup here

    to cut the goblet cup                                            of the cup                                                   shaping the stem

       Cutting the spirals with a burr tool                         smooting with strips of sanding                    the finished goblet

                                                                                       paper

    Pigtail Twist

      Marking out a complicated set                       Cuting with hte big arbortech           situation prior to clean up                     the finished article

      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~                   

     

      May 21 Chris Pouncy

      Chris from Robert Sorby Tools demonstrated 3 of his company's specialist tools.

    He started by emphasising the importance of sharpening your tools although he did not show the company's latest sharpening jig/tool.







    First up were the texturing and spiraling tools

        With a prepared piece Chris uses                   here with the tool vertically applied                              after colouring ,   the finished piece

        the tool horizontally across the piece



                                                             

                                                                 Here making a spiralling effect                                  the finished piece




    Using the eccentric chuck fitment where the   

    centre can be offset in any direction                                  the finished example                 


      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Mark Hancock - April 4

      After roughing down here shaping a spigot        After reversing the piece , more shaping          then starting to holllow out the inside



    Refining the top inside with a special tool       another reverse to shape and then remove the base spigot          using a profiile gauge to check the curve

                                                                                                                                                                                     with the aim to make it continuous flow

                                                                                                                                                                                     from outside to inside the 'legs'.

       

      Mark gave an entertaining but also very instructive and enjoyable demo with many tips relating to many aspects of turning.


    Apologies for the background to many of the photos. the demo is held in a childrens 'kindergarten room'.


      Mark used spalted sycamore for his first piece.

      Cutting the legs        and           smooting the curve                   the legs now completed                    ebonising the wood                   power brushing off any

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  loose particles.

    .cutting an assymetrical groove         Applying goold leaf to the inside                the finished piece

    then painting it


      For his second piece, Mark made a 'rocking vessel'. This is a piece which is not meant to stand  but lay on its side and rock

    Explaining the shape    After roughing down here shaping  then after reversing , making the    then the vertical grooves

                                           the piece                                                 ring grooves with an                also with the arbortech tool

                                                                                                           arbortech tool


                    Refining the grooves                   Air brushing colour onto the piece                  one he'd made earlier having had

                                                                                                                                                a similar 'ebonising'


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    Mark Baker - November 15th


        Mark , who is Editor of Woodturning magazine, gave a very

    enlighting demo packed with useful tips and produced

    no less than 5 pieces of work all of which were interesting

    shapes.

    He  remarked that it was always very useful to study

    shapes of artefacts of  ancient civilisations as well as ceramics to obtain a different slant for turning work.


    His first piece was a lidded bowl in Sycamore.

    After roughing down and creating a spigot for later, Mark is here shaping the outside. Note the OG shape just below the rim.




                Making beads                                        All beads now created                        After reversing the piece & making a spigot

                                                                                                                                             here cutting the lid  from the base

    Shaping the inside of the bowl .                 The lid back on being shaped                            the finished lid on the base

    note the shaping by the rim to

    take the lid.


          The outside of the bowl                                                                             and the inside

     A Tea Light holder in ply.


    Having roughed out the block to a     

    cylinder  and cutting spigots both                         Having hollowed out the light recess                       and after reversing the

    ends, starting to shape the body                           here shaping the neck                                            piece onto a wood jam chuck now

                                                                                                                                                                   removing the spigot



        The finished piece                                   Next a dish/lid - here refining the shape      then cutting beads & spaces as decoration


         the finished piece                                                                  Here fitting a tea light holder he'd made earlier

    Next a Ginger Jar (Asian style) in ripple sycamore


    Shaping the outside                                    then after reversing the piece, hollowing out the inside                       a final refining of the outside         

     

      Making the lid                                                                            the finished piece     


      A piece in walnut


    After roughing out & making spigots/feet                                   then reversing and hollowing out

    here  shaping the base                                                                       

    Final hollowing with a scraper to obtain                                                the finished piece

    'thin ness'


       A negative rake scraper used by Mark                                    A bristle brush used for 'cleaning abd finishing between beads

    Mark Sanger  - Apriil 19th

       

        Mark gave an excellent demo providing many tips and pointers

      along the way, including safety aspects and his ideas on

      proportion. As shown below,he had ingenious methods of

      sanding inside a hollow form.


      His first piece was a coloured bowl.

    After roughing down, shaping the outside          Drilling a centre hole                      Hollowing out with a led light                  Reverse chucking with a

                                                                                                                                        attached to the rest                                neoprene pad faceplate


                                                            Sanding off the rest of the            Applying pickling vinegar

                                                            foot with a pad on a drill                which has had wire wool                                                    The base showing the

    Removing the foot                           extension                                      in it                                           The finished piece               foot treatment

                                   

      Next - a hollow form, after         After drilling a centre hole          After hollowing out using a sanding pad on the     Mark's special inside sander made from

      roughing down here shaping     hollowing out                             end of a drill piece                                                  a coat hanger

      the outside                 


                                                                                Buffing the piece after applying

                Removing the foot                                   polishing compound to a wheel                                The finished piece